Chapter One – Party

Summary: We pick up with Bella in a dream. She is certain she is dreaming because the sunlight hitting her is far too bright for Forks, Washington and she is looking straight at her Grandmother Marie who had died six years ago.

They go through the expected awkwardness of a posthumous meeting when their attention is stolen by Edward. Bella recognizes his voice instantly, but begins to panic when she realizes that he is about to walk through direct sunlight to get to her and her grandmother is still there. She tries to warn him silently, wishing for once that he could hear her thoughts, but he keeps coming. Finally, he reaches her, “smiling so beautifully that my heart felt like it was going to swell up and burst in my chest,” and puts his arm around her shoulders. She looks back at her grandmother expecting to see a horror-struck expression, but instead she is smiling sheepishly “as if waiting for a scolding.” Only the does Bella notice the huge gilt frame that enclosed her grandmother’s form. Bella realizes as Edward bends down to kiss her cheek and whispers, “Happy Birthday” that she is looking in a mirror.

Bella wakes up, telling herself that it was only a dream, but recognizing that it was at least partially correct: “Today was my birthday. I was officially eighteen years old…. And Edward never would be.” She worries about this fact all morning as she gets ready for school, only managing to banish the thoughts when she first sees Edward. But even the happiness that seeing Edward brings is fleeting as his sister Alice is sickeningly excited about the fact that it’s Bella’s birthday. Alice has even taken the liberty of calling Mrs. Newton to get Bella off work for the evening. And, although Bella tries valiantly to avoid it, Alice makes sure that she will be stopping by the Cullen house for a birthday celebration. Bella is more than worried about being the center of attention, positive that she will somehow manage to hurt herself.

At the end of the school day, Edward rides with Bella back to her house, making a point of telling her how bad her radio’s reception is. After proving that Edward still has the power to make Bella melt with the most gentle of touches, they head into Bella’s house to “watch the Capulets and Montagues hack each other up”.

It was during the course of Romeo and Juliet that Edward reveals that he envy’s humans the ease with which they can commit suicide. He goes on to tell Bella that while they were hunting James the previous spring, he had been making “contingency plans,” just in case they failed to save her. Edward says, “Well, I wasn’t going to live without you.” He tells her that he was considering going to Italy and doing something to provoke the Volturi. Bella is none too pleased by this revelation and tries to make him promise that he would never even think about doing that ever again. She doesn’t succeed.

Charlie comes home and Edward asks his permission to take Bella to his house for the evening. Charlie agrees despite Bella’s silent hopes that he would say no, and Edward and Bella drive toward the Cullen home. Along the way, Edward reveals that the entire Cullen family has gathered for Bella’s special night – Emmett and Rosalie even came back from Africa – and pleads with Bella to behave herself. Bella reluctantly promises, but is worried about the palpable tension that exists between her and Rosalie. When Edward tries to change the subject by asking again if there is anything she wants for her birthday, Bella responds that “You know what I want,” referring to him changing her into a vampire. Edward, however, promises that “This isn’t going to be your last birthday, Bella.”

They’re greeted by the entire Cullen family and Bella sees that it’s worse than she imagined. Alice has gone overboard with the whole thing, lining the walkway to the house with Japanese lanterns and filling crystal bowls with pink roses throughout the house. On the table in the living room are a pink birthday cake, and a small pile of silver-wrapped birthday presents.

Bella greets the Cullens, trying valiantly to be a good sport, and follows Alice to the table of presents. She opens an empty box that Jasper explains is a stereo for her truck. They decided to have Emmett install it as she opened the box so that she couldn’t return it. They hand her the second present, this one from Alice and Edward, but she gives herself a paper cut in the process.

Then everything happens at once. Edward screams “No!” and throws himself on top of her, sending both of them into the pile of glass plates that had been set next to the cake, Jasper slams into Edward in his attempts to get at Bella, and Emmett reaches for Jasper, locking him in his iron grasp. Only after Jasper is reigned in does Bella realize that their fall had sent shards of glass through the skin on her arm, creating a gash that pulsed blood.

“Dazed and disoriented, I looked up from the bright red blood pulsing out of my arm – into the fevered eyes of six suddenly ravenous vampires.”

“…this was the voice I would know anywhere – know, and respond to, whether I was awake or asleep … or even dead, I’d bet. The voice I’d walk through fire for – or, less dramatically, slosh every day through the cold and endless rain for.”~Bella Swan while she’s dreaming, pg. 4

“Well, Gran, you might have noticed that my boyfriend glitters. It’s just something that he does in the sun. Don’t worry about it….”~Bella Swan trying to explain to her dead Grandmother why her boyfriend sparkles, pg. 4

“Eighteen isn’t very old. Don’t women usually wait till they’re twenty-nine to get upset over birthdays?”~Alice to Bella, pg. 10

“I don’t envy him the girl – just the ease of the suicide.”~Edward to Bella while watching Romeo and Juliet, pg. 18

“Well, I wasn’t going to live without you.”~Edward to Bella, pg. 19

“I have a question. If I develop this film, will you show up in the picture?”~Bella to Edward outside of the Cullen house, pg. 25

“Dazed and disoriented, I looked up from the bright red blood pulsing out of my arm – into the fevered eyes of six suddenly ravenous vampires.”~Bella after being saved from Jasper’s impulsive attack by Edward, pg. 29

Important Information learned:Bella fears being older than, or too old for, Edward more than death.

The summer between Bella’s junior and senior year was the happiest one she’d ever had.

Bella tried very hard to hide her birthday from everyone at school, and apparently succeeded.

Mike Newton is trying to imitate Edward’s “look.”

Bella still hates being the center of attention.

Bella is hoping that Edward will give in and change her. This is her Plan A.

Bella works at Mike’s father’s store part-time and is using the money to save for college. College was still Plan B.

Alice has an uncanny ability to predict trends on the stock market.

Bella believes that she has nothing to offer Edward and that letting him buy anything for her or pay for her college tuition just threw them more off balance.

Bella has Romeo and Juliet memorized, and still cries when she watches it.

Edward has contemplated suicide and even planned his own death. He states that he was not going to live without Bella in his life.

The Volturi are a very powerful, almost royal, family of vampires that live in Italy. You do not irritate the Volturi unless you want to die.

Charlie has gotten used to Edward and his strange habits, like continuously refusing dinner, but is still uncomfortable with the seriousness of Bella and Edward’s relationship.

Charlie is very fond of Alice.

The older Cullens (Rosalie, Jasper and Emmett) have graduated and the town believes that they are attending Dartmouth College.

Rosalie and Emmett have been in Africa for a long time. Probably since their graduation.

The last birthday anyone in the Cullen family had celebrated was Emmett’s 20th in 1935.

Even though Jasper and Bella bonded over the Phoenix fiasco, he still maintains a careful distance from her, unsure if he can control himself.

[…] disastrous 18th birthday party where he was forced to reevaluate the future of her life with him. (NM1) He decided that Bella would be better off living a normal life without him and left Forks along […]

[…] disastrous 18th birthday party where he was forced to reevaluate the future of her life with him. (NM1) He decided that Bella would be better off living a normal life without him and left Forks along […]

[…] disastrous 18th birthday party where he was forced to reevaluate the future of her life with him. (NM1) He decided that Bella would be better off living a normal life without him and left Forks along […]